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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/25872577">Gas Station People</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/vsycho/pseuds/vsycho'>vsycho</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Dreaming About Space [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>NCT (Band)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alien apocalypse - Freeform, Aliens, Alternate Universe - Alien Invasion, Alternate Universe - Apocalypse, Horror, Huang Ren Jun-centric, M/M, Mild Blood, Multi, Nonsense, Polyamory, Reality vs Illusion, Unreliable Narrator, attempt at dark comedy, but not really, gas stations, it's mainly renmin in terms of ships, seriously nobody knows what's happening including me</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-08-13</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-08-13</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-18 00:42:01</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>3,290</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/25872577</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/vsycho/pseuds/vsycho</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>The bedroom that the sign outside spoke of does not have a bed. It has a large lumpy futon, and a creaky door and a small squared window in the wall opposing said door, but that’s about it. Despite this, Renjun finds the room rather homely and the futon as cozy as though it were his own bed. In fact, it’s cozy enough for him to fall asleep as soon as he lays down, and have bizarre, deep dreams himself.</p><p>First he dreams of Jeno chopping all their ears off with Jaemin’s gossip magazine and stringing them on a necklace, then of Donghyuck endlessly teleporting to different rooms in the gas station, and the rest of it is all Jaemin. Jaemin with his blue hair and dark eyes and fair skin. Jaemin with blue hair, blue eyes and blue skin. Jaemin in his black leather jacket, wrapping Hello Kitty bandages around each one of his torn-off fingernails. Jaemin doing cartwheels on a white tight-rope in a black abyss of time and space. Jaemin emerging from a sea of pear-green goo, not quite looking the same as he used to.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Huang Ren Jun/Lee Donghyuck | Haechan/Lee Jeno/Na Jaemin</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Dreaming About Space [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1877467</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>6</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>19</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Gas Station People</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>The title is inspired by the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OcA2NLz6JKA">Deaf Radio song of the same name</a>.</p><p>Challenge: Spot the A:TLA reference.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>There are three people at the gas station. Excluding Renjun, that is.</p><p>He’s a mess when he stumbles in the building, with his denim jacket slipped off of one shoulder and his hair wildly blown backwards from the brisk wind. The three other strangers are all occupied by different things and go by their distraction with a nonchalant air that is too reckless for Renjun’s liking. His eyes flicker between them, lost at first, but then they’re found by the gaze of the boy with the electric blue hair sitting on a stool.</p><p>He closes the gossip magazine he had been reading and, with a sly smile, says to Renjun,</p><p>“Wild way for the world to end, am I right?”</p><p>Renjun lets out a shaky breath. “Yeah.”</p><p>“You don’t need to remind us,” the boy sitting on the floor grunts. His hands grip a Nintendo Switch, fingers skillfully manipulating black buttons. </p><p>Blue Boy gives Renjun an apologetic look. “Don’t pay attention to Donghyuck. He’s just upset that Black Friday was cancelled.”</p><p>Renjun furrows his eyebrows. “But we’re still the first of May.”</p><p>“We are?” Blue Boy muses with surprise. Shadows cast his face when the white fluorescent light flickers overhead. Renjun can’t tell whether he’s being serious or not.</p><p>“I don’t care what anybody says, that pink sherpa coat and I were meant to be,” Donghyuck says offhandedly without sparing either of them a glance, but Blue Boy is no longer engaged in the conversation with him. He keeps his eyes steady on Renjun, crosses his legs over each other.</p><p>“I’m Jaemin. Are you here because of the sign?”</p><p>Renjun nods his head. “Yeah.”</p><p>He thought it was strange, the sign outside. A neon yellow paper taped to the door with handwritten childish block letters that read: <em> ALIEN APOCALYPSE / COME IN FOR FREE SHELTER / BED AND CHIPS OFFERED, </em>with an unsettling smiley face at the bottom. Renjun had almost turned back, but after a second look at the sign, he figured it was his best chance at safety yet. The storm brewing outside didn’t seem like it was going away anytime soon, and, just like the news anchors had warned everyone at the start of the week, Renjun’s car had mysteriously broken down along the side of the road only half an hour after he’d left town.</p><p>“Hold on,” Jaemin mutters as he rolls up his magazine only to chuck it at the boy sleeping over the cash counter. It hits him right on the head before falling down to the dirty linoleum floor with a quiet flap. The sleeping boy, now awake, blinks his eyes wide and uncrosses his arms, revealing the front of his blue work shirt on which a tag of the name <em> Jeno </em> is pinned. </p><p>Like a cat, arms stretched out and back arching, the boy ⎼ Jeno ⎼ purrs in a low, groggy voice, “Hi and welcome to Wendy’s.”</p><p>Jaemin clicks his tongue. “Wrong job. You got fired from Wendy’s a month ago, remember?”</p><p>“Oh. I forgot.”</p><p>“Like I said,” Donghyuck chimes in, “No need to remind us.”</p><p>“Donghyuck is also upset he can’t get free fries anymore,” Jaemin says pleasantly. “By the way, Hyuck, it’s your turn to do the bathroom.”</p><p>“Why can’t the new guy do it?”</p><p>“Because the new guy still needs to settle in. Now let go of that <em> mind-controlling device </em> and go get the mop. And make sure you clean the toilet.”</p><p>Donghyuck complies with a sigh and abandons his Switch beside an opened can of Red Bull, before disappearing into one of the rooms in the back.</p><p>“Nana, I dreamed that your feet were replaced by two new heads,” Jeno says, rubbing his eye. “And they were my head.”</p><p>“That’s very nice, Jeno.”</p><p>“And Hyuck finally got that pink sherpa he’s always wanted.”</p><p>Donghyuck’s muffled voice booms from a distance, “I told you we were meant to be!”</p><p>“Jeno,” Jaemin says sharply, as to change the subject. He motions to Renjun. “This young man is here for the sign.”</p><p>“What sign?” </p><p>“The sign you put outside,” Jaemin slowly says, like he was talking to a child.</p><p>Jeno’s eyes light up. “Oh. <em>That</em> sign.” He gets up with a start and turns to eye Renjun with curiosity. “Is this him?”</p><p>“What do you think?” Jaemin deadpans, then he nods at Renjun, “What’s your name?”</p><p>“Renjun.”</p><p>Jeno stumbles out from behind the cash register. “Come on, I’ll show you around.”</p><p>“Renjun,” Jaemin tries his name on his tongue. It rolls right off. “A pretty name for a pretty boy.”</p><p>Jeno gently tugs Renjun’s wrist to guide him further into the gas station. When he looks back over his shoulder, Jaemin is still staring at him and wears a strange smile on his face.</p><p>“Let’s hope you don’t attract any aliens, pretty boy.”</p><p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p><p>The bedroom that the sign outside spoke of does not have a bed. It has a large lumpy futon, and a creaky door and a small squared window in the wall opposing said door, but that’s about it. Despite this, Renjun finds the room rather homely and the futon as cozy as though it were his own bed. In fact, it’s cozy enough for him to fall asleep as soon as he lays down, and have bizarre, deep dreams himself.</p><p>First he dreams of Jeno chopping all their ears off with Jaemin’s gossip magazine and stringing them on a necklace, then of Donghyuck endlessly teleporting to different rooms in the gas station, and the rest of it is all Jaemin. Jaemin with his blue hair and dark eyes and fair skin. Jaemin with blue hair, blue eyes and blue skin. Jaemin in his black leather jacket, wrapping Hello Kitty bandages around each one of his torn-off fingernails. Jaemin doing cartwheels on a white tight-rope in a black abyss of time and space. Jaemin emerging from a sea of pear-green goo, not quite looking the same as he used to.</p><p>Jaemin staring down the toilet in the bathroom, except this time it’s not a dream and his fingernails are perfectly fine. </p><p>Renjun approaches him with slow, quiet steps and speaks softly from over his shoulder, “What are you looking at?” He peers at the clear water and grime of the toilet bowl then at Jaemin’s expressionless face. “Are you high?”</p><p>No answer.</p><p>“It’s okay, you can tell me. I’ve done it before. I once even got stoned right before my baby cousin’s birthday party.”</p><p>Jaemin’s lips barely move, “I thought you were sleeping.”</p><p>“I thought the same about you, but here you are staring at a toilet.”</p><p>Jaemin turns his head around and looks at Renjun’s face everywhere but his eyes. They stand close to each other, close enough for Renjun to smell the lavender and sweat on Jaemin’s clothes and skin. </p><p>“You should go back to the bed,” Jaemin whispers.</p><p>“What are you going to do?” Renjun whispers back.</p><p>At this, Jaemin smiles, all pearly white teeth and rubbery pink lips. “Nothing you should worry about.”</p><p> </p><p>Renjun’s car is completely wrecked by the time he wakes up the next day. A green goo seeps out from beneath the hood and the trunk, out of the windows and windshields, between the wheels of the tires (when had they deflated?) and their rims. </p><p>“Damn,” Jeno says from behind him. “That’s rough, buddy.”</p><p>“Yeah, no kidding.” </p><p>The goo reaches the ground. Renjun helplessly watches it grow into a small puddle.</p><p> </p><p>Jeno is crouched down behind the cash register. He tells Renjun and Jaemin that he’s been hearing noises lately, and thinks, if he hides from them long enough, they’ll go away.</p><p>“What if the noises are coming from the ceiling?” Jaemin jokes. He’s sitting on his stool as usual, shoving half of his arm in a can of sour cream and onion flavoured Pringle's, while Renjun sits at his feet with a bottle of Sprite between his crossed legs. He gives Jaemin a light shove to the knee.</p><p>“What? This kind of information is important if we want to help him.”</p><p>Renjun rolls his eyes and turns back to Jeno. “What kind of sounds are they?”</p><p>“I don't know,” Jeno says. “They're different every time. Yesterday, I heard my mom from inside the ice cream freezer.”</p><p>“What was she saying?” Jaemin asks between his chip-crunching.</p><p>“She was asking me if I wanted the left-over chicken noodle soup.”</p><p>“Well, what did you answer her?”</p><p>“<em>Jaemin</em>,” Renjun chides.</p><p>Jeno blinks. “I told her ‘No thank you, maybe later’.”</p><p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p><p>“I wonder what aliens look like.”</p><p>There’s a thick layer of fog outside, obscuring their view for miles and miles when they look out the windows. Jaemin reads at his seat on the stool as usual, eyes skimming pages of a gossip magazine that Renjun swears he’s never seen on the rack before.</p><p>“I don’t think they’re that interesting to look at,” Jaemin says flatly without looking up. “You prefer cold weather. Yes or no?”</p><p>“The news has never shown any pictures of them. Not of their physical appearance, anyway.”</p><p>Jaemin heaves a sigh and folds the magazine closed. “Renjun, I’m trying to find out if you’d be BFFs with Hailee Stenfield, Dove Cameron or Grace VanderWaal. Could you please cooperate?”</p><p>Renjun stares at Jaemin. He doesn’t remember him having a mole between his eyebrows. He turns back to the open cash register and fiddles around with the two lonely twenty-five cents and a half-empty pack of peppermint gum.</p><p>He unwraps the gum, ignoring the panicky voice in the back of his head telling him Jeno is going to have his head (or his ears), and tosses it in his mouth.</p><p>“None. I’m an old Disney Channel fan at heart.”</p><p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p><p>“How long has it been?” </p><p>Renjun looks up from his (Jeno’s) book of crossword puzzles. It’s been raining lilac drops all day. Donghyuck watches two trails of color race down the bedroom window with a bit too much seriousness.</p><p>Renjun hauls himself onto his calves to better read Donghyuck’s expression. </p><p>It’s unreadable.</p><p>Renjun tries again, this time with words. “The invasion?”</p><p>He’s granted with silence for a few long seconds, and then Donghyuck murmurs, “Everything.”</p><p>“Well,” Renjun ponders, repeatedly smoothing his sweaty palms on his jean-clad thighs. “The first signs of invasion happened about two months ago but. . .” He scratches his head. “Or maybe it was three months? I mean, I do remember coming here only seven days ago.” A pause. “Yes, a week. Yes, that’s it.”</p><p>“It feels so much longer than that.”</p><p>“My being here?”</p><p>Donghyuck frowns as the raindrop race comes to an end on the other side of the windowsill. “Everything.”</p><p>Renjun carefully watches him. “Hyuck?”</p><p>“Sometimes I feel like I’m in more than one place at once,” Donghyuck says absentmindedly. “And I need to get the pieces of myself back from wherever they are before I can feel whole again. Jaemin tells me that it’s normal, and that I shouldn’t worry.”</p><p>“Come here, Hyuck. Come away from the window.” Renjun tells him.</p><p>Donghyuck drops to his knees and crawls into Renjun’s open arms. Goosebumps break onto Renjun’s skin when Donghyuck’s cold lips graze his neck.</p><p>“Does Jaemin often tell you things like that?” </p><p>Donghyuck hooks his chin onto Renjun’s shoulder. “Yes,” he says. “He tells me lots of things. But I don’t always understand what they mean.”</p><p>"That’s okay.”</p><p>“I don’t like not understanding things.”</p><p>“That’s also okay,” Renjun says as he pulls them both down on the futon. He gives Donghyuck’s hair a soft stroke of his hand. “Go to sleep, Hyuck. You need some rest.”</p><p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p><p>Renjun doesn’t open his eyes when he’s woken up from his nap. He only lets his arm, stinging from numbness, fall off from around Donghyuck’s shoulders. He winces at the sensation of ants crawling into his veins before straining his ears to focus on the strangely warped voices on the other side of the bedroom door.</p><p>“I know what you’re doing.”</p><p>“Do you?”</p><p>“Yes. And you need to stop right now.”</p><p>“I can’t.”</p><p>“Jaemin, you’re driving us crazy. You’re driving <em> me </em> crazy. These voices that I hear⎼”</p><p>“⎼Are all in your head.”</p><p>“They don’t feel that way.”</p><p>“So what do you expect me to do then? Just sit around day and night and pretend everything is okay? I’m not going to do that, Jeno. Not when I know that something is wrong.”</p><p>“Something is wrong with what?”</p><p>“With this place! With all of us! You may not realize it but this whole invasion is much stranger than it seems and⎼”</p><p>“Jaemin, we’re in the middle of <em> an alien apocalypse</em>.”</p><p>“⎼I’m this close to finding out what it is, so don’t try to stop me.”</p><p>Footsteps fade in. </p><p>Then fade out.</p><p>“Where are you going?!”</p><p>A door closes, anger creaks in the hinges.</p><p>“Nana!”</p><p>Somewhere, someplace, in the gas station or maybe just within the dark abyss of Renjun’s mind, a toilet never stops flushing.</p><p> </p><p>Donghyuck smashes his Nintendo Switch with a baseball bat later that night. Renjun doesn’t know when did his mood change so drastically nor where he got the bat from, but he tries his best to stop him anyway, but doesn’t succeed in doing so until he’s pulling Donghyuck by the waist. Together, they go crashing on the floor, and the bat slips out of Donghyuck’s hands and falls down with a clank.</p><p>“Hyuck, stop! Stop it!” Renjun scrambles onto his knees. He makes sure to get a good grip on Donghyuck’s shoulders. “What the fuck happened?!”</p><p>“That <em> thing </em>tried to control my mind!” Donghyuck shrieks, his voice shrill as he points a shaky, accusatory finger at the Switch. “It’s just like Jaemin said, it wanted to control my mind!”</p><p>Renjun whips his head around to look at the stool in the corner because Jaemin is supposed to be there, is always there until now and Renjun can’t even remember the last time he saw him but it’s hard to search through his memory when Jeno can’t stop sobbing over the cash register with his hands pressed to his ears and Donghyuck can’t stop thrashing in his arms like a wild animal.</p><p>“I don’t want to be controlled!” Donghyuck screams, red in the face. “<em>I don’t want to be controlled anymore!</em>”</p><p>Renjun lets go of Donghyuck then, and sits down on the floor with his arms limp at his sight. He isn’t sure if his head or the room is spinning. Or both.</p><p>Across the room, a green liquid oozes out of the dent Donghyuck made in his Nintendo Switch.</p><p> </p><p>The sky is of a deep bluish-purple color when Renjun wakes up to a burning ache. It’s spread all over his body, right under his skin like quick fire on a trail of gasoline. He groans in pain as he forces himself upright then looks to his side.</p><p>Jaemin is here. Not in front of him, not nestled between Jeno and Donghyuck like he’s supposed to be, but he’s here somewhere. Renjun feels him in the air, feels his eyes on him from beneath the grubby floor and through the drab walls. He lets him watch as he gets up with a struggling push and leaves the dark, silence-stricken bedroom on weak feet.</p><p>He’s barely managed to turn the bathroom lights on when he collapses, hitting the floor so hard it nearly knocks the breath out of his lungs. Black spots cover his vision until it’s completely sucked away, but it’s only for a split second, or maybe for an eternity; Renjun isn’t quite sure because the next time he opens his eyes, pupils swirling with dizziness, he’s still on the bathroom floor but this time Jaemin is there, <em> really </em>there, kneeling over him with panic smeared on his face. Renjun feels himself violently convulsing when he meets his gaze, and something begins to drip out of his nose. Jaemin has his hands on his cheeks then, his thumbs stained with red as he leans down.</p><p>“I’m sorry,” he whispers. He smears the wet thing on Renjun’s cheeks when he brushes his thumbs against them. “I’m sorry. I tried, but I couldn’t change it. I couldn’t change anything.”</p><p>And then he’s kissing Renjun, letting him spasm against his lips. They taste sweet, like a sticky cherry lollipop or melted cotton candy, but soon they mix with the metallic flavor that trickles in as well, and Renjun doesn’t know if he wants to vomit or swallow it all down. He can see the lights from behind Jaemin rapidly flicker, as though they’re angry, as though they’ve been disobeyed, and he wants to move and reach up to stop them, but his muscles keep on clenching and unclenching, and Jaemin keeps on kissing him, and he wonders if this is how he’ll die, with Jaemin’s lips pressed onto his and his mind shattered to pieces.</p><p>But then there’s a blinding light that descends from the moldy ceiling and envelops him, and everything suddenly goes soft and quiet.</p><p> </p><p>“Renjun.”</p><p>“Hm.”</p><p>“Wake up, Renjun.”</p><p>“Hmm.”</p><p>“They’re here.”</p><p>At this, Renjun’s eyes shoot open and stares up at Jeno. He’s looking at Renjun weird, as though he were about to discover something very bad.</p><p>Something shifts around in front of him. He cranes his head.</p><p>Jaemin is what is very bad.</p><p>He stands tall, only a couple of steps from where Renjun’s feet lay on the futon, with no shirt on and has a face that is not his own ─ his nose is slimer, his eyes are further apart and his lips look fuller.</p><p>“Plastic surgery?” Renjun croaks.</p><p>“No.”</p><p>Renjun squints through the dense darkness of the room to scrutinize Jaemin’s bandaged fingers.</p><p>“Those are supposed to be Hello Kitty, not Ninja Turtles,” he whispers, scandalized.</p><p>“Open the door, Renjun,” Jaemin says.</p><p>Startled, Renjun fixes his gaze on Jaemin’s strange-looking face. “What?”</p><p>“At this point, there’s no need for you to think twice about anything. Just open the door so this could be over already.”</p><p>“I⎼” Renjun blinks. His mind has gone blank. “Okay.” </p><p>He wrestles his way out from beneath the blanket, his limbs feeling heavy. The rustling barely wakes Donghyuck up; his eyes stay closed when he lifts his head. </p><p>“What’s going on?”</p><p>Pain instantaneously plummets into Renjun’s temples as he gets up. He stumbles in place, and Jaemin reaches out to steady him, his fingertips icy cold on Renjun’s arm.</p><p>“You okay?” Jaemin asks, worry weighing his tone. “I didn’t drive you straight to your grave?”</p><p>Renjun manages to wheeze out a laugh. “No, I’m fine.” </p><p>He glances down at the puddle of goo that has slipped in from underneath the door and draws a deep breath. </p><p>The ugly sound of a squelch vibrates through the room when Renjun sets one cautious foot in the goo. It’s a blanket of ice against his skin, running a shiver up his leg and through his core. His stomach clenches in reflex and his teeth chatter ever so slightly.</p><p>“Renjun,” Jaemin calls. Renjun turns to him and is given a reassuring nod of the head. “I’ll see you again soon.”</p><p>Two feet now in the goo and one hand on the doorknob, Renjun swallows his fear down his throat and opens the door, squeezing his eyes shut right before the room explodes.</p><p> </p><p>There are three people at the gas station. Excluding Renjun, that is.</p><p>None of them look his way when he first walks in, nor do they seem half as alarmed as he is.</p><p>It’s the boy with electric blue hair sitting on a stool in the corner who’s the first to notice him. He lifts his head from the gossip magazine he had been reading and, with a sharp lopsided smile, narrows his eyes at Renjun. </p><p>“Wild way for the world to end, am I right?”</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I wrote this back in April and it just sat in my drafts half-written until now; I don't really know what took me so long to finish writing this, but here it is.</p><p>If you have any questions, don't be shy to ask them but I cannot promise I will have an answer for all of them lol.</p><p>Thanks for reading!</p></blockquote></div></div>
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